Environmental Protection for Sustainability

Excerpt

It is amazing how all the events and activities in our lives are interconnected. As a young boy growing up in El Paso, Texas, I was exposed to many aspects of life and even had family relatives from all social classes. This never bothered me, because they were family and it made me aware there was a huge and vastly different world beyond the street that I lived on. While I could see the apparent differences between these social classes, it never really occurred to me there were also differences that occurred under the surface of what was seen. You are probably wondering why I am beginning this editorial with this, but as you read, you will see that these experiences and events in my life have shaped me as a man, a son, and a father. These experiences have also contributed to my approach as a researcher at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the reason why I wanted to share the research in this special feature issue with you. …